


Trace My Lips With Yours

by pietromavximoff



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Marauders Era - Fandom, jily - Fandom, marauders - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Quidditch after party, also James and Lily hiding in a broom cupboard, and sirius and remus just know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:20:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7852363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pietromavximoff/pseuds/pietromavximoff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily won't admit she has feelings for James, so Sirius and Remus make a bet with her during a party in the Gryffindor Common Room (which may or may not lead her and James to sneak around the castle under the invisibility cloak)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trace My Lips With Yours

Usually, the minor differences that lead up to that one big moment in your life are rarely identified individually. Those all-important times when suddenly, the lens in front of your eyes changes slightly and everything becomes clearer, and even though it was already clear enough, you wonder how you could see before.

It was a Saturday night, and the Gryffindor common room was like the inside of a firework before it exploded. Pulsing conversation carried all the way up into the empty dormitories and could be heard outside the portrait hole, laughter and eyes that shone, all made the air thick with noise and colour. The fire crackled with such intensity that it seemed to burn everything in the room brighter. Lily Evans was sure James Potter had spilled firewhiskey into it at some point, probably because Sirius had complained he was cold, and everyone knew not to suggest he put on a jumper over his crop top. Over the roar of voices, Lily turned to see James, a proud yet slightly embarrassed smirk on his face as a fourth year was chatting with him excitedly about the last few moments of the Quidditch final, marvelling at how James had managed to score the Gryffindor’s one last goal before their seeker caught the snitch. Lily had to fight a smile at the memory of the feeling of dread as she watched James glide through the air like he had wings, throwing the Quaffle through a golden hoop right as the snitch was caught, the swooping sensation in her stomach as she realised what he had done, the loud buzzing that got even louder as the crowd realised as well. The score read 210 to 220 and by the time Dumbledore got the audience to quieten down, the Gryffindor team had all yelled themselves hoarse, and no-one had much of a voice left to accept the cup with more than a ‘cheers’.

Sirius and Remus were standing on one side of James, both with amused expressions on their faces, as if silently debating whether they should tell the wide-eyed fourth year that James drools in his sleep or that he trips over his own feet daily. James hadn’t seemed to be able to wipe the grin off his face all afternoon, and now, eleven at night, didn’t seem like a good time to. He looked up instinctively and caught Lily’s gaze, and she thought she saw his smile drop a little before she looked away. It made her head pound slightly harder, though she convinced herself it was the firewhiskey. She’d really tried not to like him this year. It had been easy all the other years; he’d been annoying James, too-loud James, arrogant James. But when they’d all returned at the start of September for their sixth year, he had turned into another adjective James that she couldn’t quite pick, but she knew by the way her head swam when he looked at her that it had to be no good.

'Oi, Lils, budge up.’ Sirius had broken away from James, Remus and the excited fourth year, and was now slumping onto the couch next to her, unaware of the liquid that had escaped from his bottle and onto the floor. Lily saw with a grim sort of amusement that he had already had a few too many shots of firewhiskey; his messy hair was slowly untangling from it’s careless bun and his grey eyes were slightly glassy. She fought between exasperation and delight at the sight of a nearly drunk Sirius, recalling the handful of other times she’d borne witness to his antics when intoxicated. Once, he’d transformed so many times from his form as a bear-like dog and back into a human that he’d gotten stuck halfway through, and been forced to spend three hours as a dog until they figured out why – dogs didn’t usually get drunk – so they threw him into the black lake and he’d emerged wet but cackling with laughter. Drunk was when he and Remus had had their first kiss, but, as it had been Remus who had looked at Sirius with such intensity, such a blazing look in his eyes as he pushed himself off his bed, that he didn’t give Sirius any time to say a word before crashing his lips onto his, Lily figured she couldn’t give Sirius all of the credit for that one.

'Padfoot.’ She said playfully, putting all of her concentration into leaning over and picking up a bottle of butterbeer from the table in front of her, just in case her eyes wandered and she stole an obvious look at James. She turned to see Sirius watching her, amusement and satisfaction chasing themselves across his face. She and Sirius had started getting along more as a result of a Herbology lesson in their fifth year, when he noticed Snape trying to get Lily’s attention after saying something particularly nasty to one of his friends, and had promptly taken a small pot of Devil’s Snare and lobbed it at his head. Since then, she and Sirius had been closer that she would’ve thought in her first year. And it was through Sirius (and Remus, of course), that she had begun to see a lot more of James, more than she cared for at first. For five years, she’d known him as the arrogant toerag who had bullied Snape and had an annoying, persistent crush on her, but the previous year she had soon come to realise that Snape deserved every bit of sneering he got and, that, to her surprise, James Potter’s crush on her had gone away. It felt like her blood was still swirling in her veins but didn’t quite feel the same when Remus had mentioned offhandedly that James was going to be annoyed that his detention was on the same night as his date with Zoe McGinn. Maybe her blood had turned a different colour, or her heart had started pumping extra hard since then, because she couldn’t remember a time where her chest didn’t have a dull ache when she thought of him. Sirius and Remus had caught the look on her face at this news before she’d had the chance to wipe it off, and had questioned her about it relentlessly after. And while she insisted that she didn’t like James any more than she liked having double History of Magic last thing on a Friday, the made it plain that they didn’t believe her. And she couldn’t blame them. She didn’t even believe herself.

Sirius broke through her thoughts, taking a sip of butterbeer. ‘You know, if I had a choice between you staring at James and the giant squid walking up to the castle and knocking on the front doors, I’d say subtlety isn’t your strong suit.’  
Lily grew irrationally defensive at once, wondering how on earth Sirius could think up such a sentence in his present state. ‘Like you waiting for Remus to snog you wasn’t obvious.’  
Sirius rolled his eyes like she’d just said the most ridiculous thing, grinning ear to ear. ‘Now, Evans.’ He reached out and poked her on the nose in the same way someone might poke a younger sibling. She scrunched her face up at him. ‘I wasn’t stealing looks at him like he’d just broken my heart, I’m not the one who was ready to commit murder when I heard he had a date with someone else, and I certainly wasn’t the one who couldn’t even admit that I had feelings for him to anybody.’  
‘One and two are absolute rubbish, Black, and you know it.’ Lily smirked, recalling, almost painfully, how long she had to endure Sirius pining over Remus, and then, when Remus casually announced that a Ravenclaw had asked him out, how long Sirius’ ranting went on about how much better he was than any old Ravenclaw, despite Lily’s constant reminders that Remus had said no.  
Almost on cue, Remus detached himself from his group and flopped down next to Sirius, who rested the arm holding his butterbeer on Remus’ shoulder, and Remus’ face instantly grew content. She glared back at him with fierce frustration. Whatever he had to say about the matter was biased, because he had Remus, and it had all worked out well and good for them. Lily, on the other hand, had no idea if the next step she took would lead her off a tall cliff.  
‘Oh, what have you done to her?’ Remus asked, catching sight of Lily’s expression. ‘She looks like she’s trying to come up with twenty different ways to kill you with a butterbeer cork.’  
‘I’m at eighteen.’ Lily said through gritted teeth.  
Sirius gave a bark of laughter and turned to Remus, who had taken the bottle of butterbeer out of Sirius’ hands to have a sip, before absent-mindedly threading his fingers through Sirius’ as they hung off his shoulder.  
‘The worst case of pining I’ve ever seen.’  
Remus’ mouth opened in an “O” shape and he mock gasped, although Lily caught the knowing look he and Sirius exchanged.  
‘But what she is pining about,’ Sirius went on with a great sarcastic shrug of his shoulders, ‘is absolutely unknown and foreign to me, since it is definitely and most assuredly not James.’  
‘Nineteen.’ Lily knew she had to stop feigning anger at some point, but the fact was that Sirius and Remus were completely right, and they knew it. She tried not to look at James again, but it was like her eyes were magnets and he was iron, and her stomach clenched painfully at the thought of him not wanting her anymore, despite everything Sirius and Remus said. They had both assured her, at least a hundred times each that he still liked her, that, if anything, going out with other girls had only made him realise how not Lily they were. Lily turned back to their smug faces, and they at least had the audacity to dearly try to fix them into benign expressions when she glared.

‘Let’s make a bet, then.’ Sirius leant forwards, his arm slipping off Remus’ shoulder. Almost instantly, Remus’ hand found Sirius’ knee, and he, like Sirius, leant in closer to Lily. Amused as she was watching them, Lily couldn’t help feeling a stab of dull jealousy when she witnessed moments like this between them, when they couldn’t bear to sever physical contact, no matter how subconscious it was. Automatic, the way Sirius’ arm was on Remus’ shoulder. Automatic, the way Remus’ hand had found Sirius’ knee. Fingers always threading through hair, legs resting on top of each other, lips fighting to find warm skin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d touched James; was it when she had kicked him lightly when he had, from his position of his dormitory floor, reached up to grab her legs hanging off a bed, or when their hands had accidentally brushed in Potions as they both moved to throw ingredients into their cauldron? Frowning at why on earth she cared so much, she snapped back to the rowdy common room.  
‘Right. Re and I have a theory that James looks at you twice every minute, five times for every minute he’s talking to someone, and not at all when he’s talking to you.’  
‘That is absolutely ridiculous.’  
Remus shrugged, his hand now tracing patterns on Sirius’ knee. ‘Absolutely ridiculously true.’  
Lily stared at the two of them back and forth, before realising they weren’t joking. ‘How could you possibly figure that – ’  
‘Sirius and I have a lot of free time in Potions.’ Remus said indifferently.  
‘Well, you’re definitely wrong about the last one. He can’t not look at me when we’re talking.’  
Sirius already had an answer. ‘He looks at you, but not in the way it matters. Not how he looks at you when you’re not looking at him.’  
Lily had nothing to say to that.  
Remus gave him a mild look; it was usually when Sirius started spouting deep, poetic nonsense that they had to flick him on the nose.  
Sirius seemed to realise what he said, sticking his tongue out. ‘God, that was unbearably sappy. Remus, should the time ever come where I say anything like that ever again, go to Professor McGonagall at once and tell her I wish us to elope.’  
Lily and Remus laughed, and James turned to the source of the noise, completely disregarding the fourth year in front of him, now re-enacting the last moments of the match with such vigour that one hand swung behind him and hit a tiny first year over the head. As the fourth year, red-faced, turned to apologise, James slipped away.  
‘Here’s your chance.’ Sirius nodded grimly in the direction of his best friend, now moving steadily through the crowd towards them.  
‘Stakes?’ Remus tilted his head, also looking at James.  
‘If we’re right about the last one, Evans tells him how she feels.’  
Lily barely had time to throw them a reproachful look before they leapt up off the couch and bounded away, without so much as a glance back. She grumbled to herself, knowing they’d be watching. Numbly realising she was still holding a bottle of butterbeer, she took a sip as James swung himself down next to her, if only to give herself something to do. It warmed her throat as it slid down, but she barely paid attention. What was worse, her stomach, usually settled by the warmth of the taste, had done flips when James’ leg had brushed against hers as he leant back against the couch.  
He watched her for a second, she could feel his gaze on her, and she impulsively turned to him. Regretting it almost instantly when she realised how close they were, she wondered how she, Sirius and Remus had fit with room to spare.  
‘Enjoying the party?’ James turned away from her as he asked, and Lily felt a stab in her chest despite herself.  
‘What would I, as a prefect, want more than underage drinking right in the middle of the common room?’ But she was grinning, and when she saw him grin back, she felt an unexpected wave of relief.  
‘Technically, you, as a prefect could stop it if you wanted. Hell, I’d probably help.’ James grinned, tilting his head, watching the fire, turning to her for a quick glance as per usual of normal conversation, before turning away once again. Lily didn’t doubt he would; it would be so like James to be a completely contrary bastard and shut down the party he had created.  
‘If Re’s fine with it – ’ she turned to Sirius and Remus, meters from them, arranging their expressions so they looked like they hadn’t just been eavesdropping, and James followed her gaze, looking to his best mates with a raised eyebrow – ‘then I guess I am too.’  
James eyed the bottle of butterbeer in her hand. ‘Swapped the firewhiskey for something a bit more tame, did you?’  
Lily let out a laugh. ‘Sirius seemed intent on finishing it.’  
James turned, surveying the room as he laughed, his eyes landing on hers but drifting away as he did with everyone else around them. ‘Speaking of the two of them, any idea why they keep staring like we just transfigured ourselves into Blast-Ended Skrewts?’  
‘Not a clue.’ Lily lied, taking a large gulp of butterbeer.  
‘You know, Evans,’ James leant further back on the couch, regarding her through his eyelashes as he closed his eyes, a grin on his face, ‘I could swear I saw you cheering at the match.’  
Lily rolled her eyes his way. ‘I could swear you’d only know that if you were looking my way.’  
At this, James grinned even wider. ‘You’ve got me there. The loud and intense screaming was utterly distracting and I simply wanted to locate the source of the noise.’  
‘Was that before or after the bludger nearly took your head off?’  
‘Before.’ James said mildly.  
Before Lily had a chance to answer, Sirius and Remus appeared in front of them, both grinning ear to ear.  
‘Prongs, mate, we’re out of butterbeer.’  
And sure enough, when Lily and James both looked around, startled, they were greeted with the sight of empty bottles scattered around the common room. Lily raised her eyebrows in suspicion, catching Sirius’ gleaming eye. He winked as Remus continued talking, but Lily wasn’t listening. He looked much more elated than before, and Lily wouldn’t put it past him not to drink the twelve remaining bottles she had seen on the table at the far end of the room only twenty minutes ago. She was about to ask herself why, but the answer came immediately.  
‘So I guess you’ll just have to go to the kitchens and get some more from our secret stash,’ Remus was sighing. ‘I, obviously could not do it because Sirius would be an absolute loose canon in a quiet castle. You and Lily should take your cloak.’  
James quirked up an eyebrow in amusement. ‘Oh?’  
Just as Lily was about to protest, Remus shoved James off the couch and Sirius took the commotion as an opportunity to whisper in her ear as he helped her up, ‘you lost.’  
James had watched his friends for a few seconds before being knocked back into the reality of the noisy common room, and turned away to go up to their dormitory. A minute later, he came down clutching a piece of parchment and a long cloak.  
Lily grumbled something unintelligible to Sirius and Remus, who appeared not to hear, and went after James as he climbed out of the portrait.  
‘Coming, are you?’ He smiled as he threw the cloak over the both of them.  
‘Figure I should. You’d probably get caught by yourself.’  
‘Excellent. Now we can get caught together.’  
‘Lumos.’ Lily said as she grinned, her wand lighting up.  
James was focussed on the parchment he was holding, which, after he had muttered something, had transformed into a gloriously detailed map of the castle. ‘Let’s go.’

As they weaved through the castle towards the kitchens, Lily realised painfully, once more, that her and James were touching. Their shoulders seemed to be glued together and their hands would brush every so often as they reached to adjust the cloak from slipping off them. There was an ear-numbing silence in the castle, and Lily could hear her heart thumping in her ears more than she’d like to. She tried to think of something to say, but, as with anytime you try to hard to think of something to say, nothing would come to her mind. Fortunately, James was never one for silence.  
‘Evans, if you stand of my foot one more time I’m afraid I’ll have to throw you out and reveal you to Filch.’ He said, pointing at a dot on the map where a name had appeared in the corridor opposite them.  
‘Maybe if you didn’t bump into me every two seconds I could walk in a straight line.’ Lily whispered back, panicking blossoming in her chest at the thought of being caught out of bed after hours.  
‘You’re the one bumping into me.’ James said in a mocking, overdramatic whisper, to which Lily retorted angrily back, annoyed that he didn’t seem the least bit worried. They continued to fight in hushed voices, until James grabbed her arm tightly and threw the both of them into a broom cupboard to their right. He closed the door softly, threw one last look at the map, where the dot of Argus Filch was fast approaching the exact spot they were, before placing a warm hand tightly around Lily’s wand hand. He muttered, ‘Nox,’ and Lily’s wand went out. Still annoyed at his stubbornness to admit he had bumped into her first, Lily whispered ‘Colloportus’, pointing her wand at the lock on the door, just as Filch’s footsteps became audible.  
‘Sneaking around at night, thinking I couldn’t hear them whispering,’ he muttered to himself as Lily and James pressed their ears to the door, listening to the sound of him opening up the doors to the classrooms around them, both holding their breath.  
He continued mumbling to himself as he checked each classroom thoroughly. As his voice reappeared for a second then disappeared into the classroom next door their broom cupboard, James pulled away from the door, taking in a sharp breath, and then performing a frantic movement which resulted in him banging his knee on a wall.  
‘Shh!’ Lily warned, feeling his warm breath tickle the back of her neck as he panted and, ignoring the twisting feeling in her chest, she turned to look blindly in the darkness to where she could feel him.  
‘What?’  
Filch’s footsteps had come to an obvious halt, and his muttering got louder as he approached the source of the noise.  
James leaned his forehead on the door, just next to her head. She heard the smile still on his face as he whispered simply, ‘spider.’  
Lily looked to where he was in the darkness in amazement, marvelling at how she was going to get caught squashed in a broom cupboard with James Potter after hours with a complete map of the school, an invisibility cloak, and bad intentions. She heard herself gasp lightly as the door knob of the broom cupboard rattled, and, without warning, clapped her hands over James’ mouth, even though he wasn’t the one panicking. She could feel his grin under her fingers as he leant against the door, not protesting in the slightest while they both listened. The handle twisted again, this time more urgently, before Filch, unable to do magic to open it, shuffled down the corridor until apparently satisfied there was no one around, his footsteps getting quieter.  
The tense silence Lily and James were left in made Lily realise that she was holding her breath, and so was James. Then she realised her hands were still over James’ mouth and took them away hastily, allowing him to take a deep, dramatic breath as though he had just surfaced water on the brink of drowning.  
‘You know, I think I’m a bit lightheaded after all that oxygen deprivation.’ He said lightly, and Lily scowled at him in the darkness.  
‘Well if you hadn’t flung yourself against the wall because of a spider – ’  
‘I did not fling myself – ’  
‘Filch nearly caught us!’  
‘He couldn’t open the door – ’  
They bickered for half a minute, voices growing louder, yet both laced with reluctant amusement at their ridiculous situation.  
‘Why are we still in here?’ Lily asked a second later, as if just now realising that there were pressed uncomfortably between the door and the stack of shelves behind them.  
James stopped mid sentence. ‘Fair point.’ He remarked, then grew silent. The silence lasted about five seconds before he said, with an air of laughter, ‘do you plan to open the door? I mean, I’m not really against sleeping in here for the night, I’ve already made an eight-legged friend and a bruise . . .’  
Lily, however, was frowning slightly. Both her hands were wandless. ‘I must’ve dropped my wand when you threw yourself into the wall – ’ James made an exasperated noise – ‘use yours to get some light in here so I can find mine.'  
Silence again. ‘I didn’t bring my wand.’  
Lily whipped around to face him, disbelieving. ‘You didn’t bring your wand?’  
‘Nope.’ She felt him tap her on the shoulder, indicating that she was addressing the wall behind her. She turned to the right side as he continued. ‘Must’ve left it in the dormitory.’  
‘You’re unbelievable.’ But she heard herself smiling. ‘Right, help me look – ’ and, without so much as a warning, she dropped to the floor and began feeling around on the cold ground. Not a second later, James had done the same, elbowing her shoulder as he did.  
‘Ouch – ’  
‘Sorry – ’  
‘What’s that . . . ahh I think it moved – ’  
‘That’s my foot – ’  
‘Ouch!’ Lily rubbed her forehead where James had just bumped into it.  
‘Sorry, I can’t move back.’ Came his reply, and from his muffled voice, Lily could tell he was holding his jaw where it had collided with her. It was true; now that they were both crouched down, the cupboard seemed to have halved in size, and for the first time Lily fully appreciated how much room they had had between them on the couch.  
‘Got it!’ Came James’ triumphant voice a minute later. Lily reached out, sensing his hand near her, and took something in her hand, only it wasn’t her wand. Her fingers had curved themselves around James’ neck, just below his ear.  
‘What’re you – ’  
‘Sorry.’ Lily said quickly, taking her hands away as though she’d just been burned, immensely glad that it was dark and James couldn’t see her burning cheeks.  
There was a second of painful silence, then he said, with a voice much stranger than usual, ‘here.’ Softly, he took her hand in his and placed her wand in it.  
‘Thanks.’ She said quietly. The castle was completely silent once again, but their fast breathing seemed to fill up the small space with heart-pounding tension. Lily thought of Sirius and Remus’ words, and she knew. It was now or never. But, as they slowly stood up, almost too careful not to touch each other, Lily found she couldn’t get any words out at all. Her heart hammering as time passed and she had still not unlocked the door, she pointed her wand to it and muttered, in a voice much shakier than usual, ‘Alohamora.’ The lock clicked. And she and James didn’t move. It was like the door was still locked and they were quite content to wait. There was utter silence; they both seemed to be holding their breath. And they still hadn’t moved. They had both waited too long now to be able to swing open the door and pretend that moment hadn’t happened, pretend like they were busting to get out and back to the common room, pretend like Lily’s fingers weren’t black from burns and James’ neck wasn’t hot with fire. And they still hadn’t moved.

Wondering what on earth James was thinking, she tried to reach for the door handle, but found his hand was already on it. And that was it. She moved forward, not even thinking, not even breathing, as she felt his hand slip off the handle and move to her waist, where he let both his hands rest, like he knew exactly what she was about to do, as she leaned up and pressed her lips onto his. They were so close together she could feel their hearts beating furiously, and, as her head swum as he moved in impossibly closer, she couldn’t tell whose heartbeat was whose. James’ mouth responded immediately to hers and he kissed her so fiercely that she knew her knees would’ve gave way if it wasn’t for the wall her back was pinned against. Her blood was on fire, her head was exploding, and surely James felt the same, because his fingertips were shaking and his breath was rattling in his chest like there would never be enough of it. One of her hands had moved to rest on his neck, where it had been before, and she smiled against his mouth as her other hand snaked around his waist and pulled him in, and he gasped into hers. ‘Lily.’ James breathed, pulling away from her mouth long enough to get that word out, before leaning back in. She grinned more still, and, when she felt his lips curve into a smile, she let out a shaky laugh that broke them apart, resting her head on his shoulder as she did. James was laughing too, and it was almost as though they were both in disbelief at what had just happened. His arms were now completely around her waist, wrapping her in a tight hug as they held each other, Lily laughing even more when he leant into her neck to give her a single, soft kiss, the corners of his mouth still curved. How long they were there like that, she couldn’t tell, but eventually, one of them had managed to open the door to the broom cupboard and they stumbled out.

‘Lumos.’ Lily whispered, her wand lighting up the corridor as James threw his cloak over them and they headed back to the common room, completely forgetting the reason they had left in the first place.  
They seemed to reach it in no time, and they didn’t even blink when the Fat Lady insulted them for waking her up as she swung forward to let them in. It seemed they were in a daze as they entered the roaring common room, party still in full swing. Before they could get a word out, Sirius and Remus had appeared in front of them, noting the lack of butterbeer they carried and not looking at all surprised by it.  
‘And what could possibly have taken the two of you so long?’ Remus asked, feigning thoughtfulness as Sirius looked between them with wide, knowing eyes.  
‘Ran into Filch.’ Lily managed, but the smile on James’ face told them otherwise.  
‘That sure was a long run-in.’ Sirius said serenely, though, by his and Remus’ expressions, they were both exploding inside. Neither James nor Lily answered, but the smiles on their faces seemed intent on giving away the truth.  
‘I’m kinda tired, it’s been a long day. See you tomorrow, Pads. Moony.’ James faked a yawn, which resulted in an unimpressed yet amused expression from his two best friends as he walked away.  
‘So you told him, then?’ Remus asked quietly, beginning to grin at James’ retreating figure.  
Lily waited a second before answering. ‘I told him.’  
James was halfway up the stairs to the boy’s dormitory when he turned around and looked at Lily with a half-smirk. ‘Coming?’

She let out a soft exhale, and, ignoring Sirius and Remus loud protests at this sudden and completely unexpected turn of events, she followed James up. At first, they had attempted to talk about everything from James’ not-real-date-with-Zoe-McGinn-so-Remus-could-see-how-Lily-reacted to Lily’s apparent indifference to him all year to the reason James never looked at her properly (it hurt to think that she didn’t like him like he liked her), but soon, sleep caught up with them, and they were quite happy to lay down in James’ bed, facing each other and tracing sharp outlines of cheekbones and lips with soft fingers. And right before they fell asleep, Lily realised what had been bugging her all year about James. He hadn’t been annoying James, too-loud James or arrogant James for a while. He’d turned into something else this year that had had her so confused, but now, half-asleep, she finally realised what it was.  
Her James.


End file.
